Nine to five jobs are dead. The traditional working system is under threat. Work-life-balance is no longer a term, it is a lifestyle concept for many workers, managers and founders. We want to work when, how, and wherever it suits us most. Due to these three variables, we can adapt work better to our life. The demand for flexible working conditions becomes more urgent every single day and companies need to react.
Many favoured employers developed their employer branding based on this flexible concept. They understood that some workers are more productive in the afternoon and evening, whereas others like to work at 6 am. Some people need to travel the world to feel happiness – those people work at the beach café in Bali and are still as productive as those sitting in the office.
Those people working at the beach and travelling the world are called digital nomads, which is one facet of the gig economy. The gig economy is on the rise – and it is moving faster and becoming more powerful than we all thought it ever would. You are not sure what this concept even implies and how it would influence your business? Let us give you a short introductory course.
The gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions and contracts with independent workers – such as freelancers – are common. The word “gig” implies a slang, which means a job for a specified period. Maybe you have heard a musician calling it a “gig” if he or she is about to play songs only for one evening in a venue.
Gig Economy is the future of work
At the Global Female Leaders summit 2019, we talked with Laura Esnaola, Managing Director at Care.com Europe GmbH, about her vision of the future economy. Care.com is a global agency that helps families to find high-quality carers. Nannies, pet sitters, dog walkers, housekeepers – these are all freelancer jobs, which are always executed temporary.
Laura Esnaola has been working in the gig economy since 2016. She experienced the movement towards this kind of work in the last three years and shared her thoughts in an exclusive interview with us. Her opinion is clear: the Flextime economy will be the future. This prognosis can bring various problems. What should people with permanent positions do? What if they like their safe working environment? Not all of us want to work independently, not knowing what the next week will bring.
These are questions Laura Esnaola asked herself, too. Her statement is clear: It is up to companies to work very closely with governments to ensure that we have a more inclusive society. Currently, we are not ready for the gig economy – but it will come and we need preparation.
We need business models that don’t let workers fall through the cracks.
Laura Esnaola, Managing Director, Care.com Europe, Germany
According to the CEO of Intuit, Brad Smith, the gig economy in the US is expected to grow up to 43% of the workforce by 2020. A further study of the World Economy Forum showed in their Future of Jobs Report 2018 that 75 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines by 2022. So robots replacing humans is real. Experts like Laura Esnaola assume that many of those workers losing their jobs will enter the gig economy. Therefore, the concept is something we can no longer ignore. Companies and the government need to find regulations.
If you are interested in further information about the gig economy, watch the whole interview video with Laura Esnaola below! Do you have another point of view? We would love to discuss the future world of working with you at the next Global Female Leaders summit!
